


A coming together of the minds

by decaffienateddefendorduck



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 09:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10460994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decaffienateddefendorduck/pseuds/decaffienateddefendorduck
Summary: During “White Out” Season 2 Episode 13:Happy enters the rooftop, sees the camping gear that Paige set out and goes over to Toby.“Hey, you wanna be bunkmates, cowboy?”Shocked, Toby says “You mean like in the same tent?”“No hanky-panky, but I figure if we can nude up in the same sleeping bag together, we can share a tent.  And I might still be a little cold inside, so maybe you can spoon me, warm me up a little?”Trying not to seem too enthusiastic, Toby says, “Done and done.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just editing for fun, cause I do that.

Later that evening:

The team has all gotten into their pajamas and tents. Happy hangs back, stoking the fire until everyone else is zipped into their respective tents. She then goes over to the tent Toby is in and tries to get in as quietly as possible.

“I was wondering if you were just messing with me.”

“Shh. I don’t want anyone else to know that I’m in here. You know about Walt’s ‘no fraternizing’ rule for Scorpion. You want to get fired?”

“No. I’ll be quiet. I’ll just be over here reveling in the idea that you are choosing to be here with me.”

Happy takes off her shoes and gets into the tent during this exchange. She lies down across from Toby and watches his silent happiness. It’s too much for her, so she rolls over and tries, but is unable to fall asleep.

“I’m cold.”

That’s all she has to say and immediately Toby scoots up behind her and wraps his arms around her. As soon as he is still she starts to be able to settle down. Just to keep up her regular persona, she says, “Don’t get too happy about this, I’m just cold.” Because she knows he can’t see her, she smiles; also reveling in the warmth and security she has begun to feel whenever Toby is near.

“Not only am I going to be excruciatingly happy about this, I have Happy and I’m holding onto Happy.”

Happy tries to make a disgusted noise, but can’t quite muster one, so she just cuddles in a little closer and falls asleep.

In the morning, at first light Happy is awakened by the rising sun. Toby is still holding her very tightly and she cannot move. She wants to be out of this situation before any member of the team is up so she starts to struggle to get out of Toby’s embrace. He stirs, and just pulls her in tighter. Giving up on trying to get away, she says, “Doc, let me go.”

“No, I’m living the rest of my life like this,” he sleepily mumbles and nuzzles his face into her hair.

“Doc, if you don’t let me go right now, you’ll be spending the rest of your life in the hospital.” When even the threat doesn’t make him loosen his hold, she tries again. “Do I need to count to three? If I have to I’ll beat the hell out of you.” 

“So hostile in the morning. Fine. Go.” Toby rolls onto his back and stretches his arms out to get the feeling back in them. The second he loosens his hold on her, Happy is up and out of the tent. She goes straight into the garage, down the stairs and out to her truck. She finds herself reminiscing happily about Toby on her way home, she's only going there to clean up and get fresh clothes for the day ahead. Once she realizes what is going on in her mind, she tries to put Toby as far from her thoughts as possible by going over the schematics for the engine she is going to rebuild that day.

After a full day of working on her current project in the garage, and doing her best to avoid staring over at Toby, Happy looks around and notices that she and Toby are the only ones left. She must not have heard everyone else leave; she was so focused on her engine. Feeling suddenly flustered, she gets up and packs her things in haste. Noticing Happy moving around for the first time in hours, Toby gets up and goes over to her workbench. As soon as he gets there, with a question clearly ready on his lips, Happy stands up, looks at him briefly, and bolts for the door.

Toby is left wondering what just happened. He is a little confused, but knows how Happy likes to be independent. He can only hope that she is changing a little, and now with everyone gone he goes back to his desk and packs up to go home. He isn’t too worried that Happy spent the day ignoring him, she did say that she didn’t want anyone in the garage to know that they were together the previous evening. As he leaves Toby contemplates the best text to send Happy to get her to reply. Nothing too emergency sounding, but also nothing too vague. He continues drafting texts all the way home.

In his apartment, Toby turns on the TV and checks to see if he has any food. Finding the remnants of a take-out meal from earlier in the week, he settles down in front of the TV, eating and trying not to text Happy every time she pops into his head. Instead, whenever he does think of her, he remembers their recent interactions; huddled together on the brink of death in the Arctic two days ago and the previous night tucked together warmly in a tent on the garage’s rooftop, and a huge smile breaks across his face. Soon his face is hurting from smiling so much at the memories.

After a couple of hours, Toby gets up and turns out all the lights, heading to bed. He is pretty sore from sleeping on ice, then the roof top, so as he crawls into his bed, he consciously thinks about how soft and comfortable it is, though he knows it will not be as comfortable as holding Happy has been for the last two nights. Just as he is about to drift off to sleep, a sound catches his attention, a noise from the direction of the front door. This brings him back to semi-consciousness, but not exactly complete wakefulness. When he doesn’t hear any additional sounds he turns away from the door and settles back into trying to sleep on his own for the first time in two days.

The next thing Toby knows, someone is crawling into his bed.  
\-----------------  
When she left work that evening, Happy drove around for a while. She thought of going to work in her Dad’s garage, maybe working on routine car problems would get Toby out of her head. She was tired from working on her non-routine engine problems, though, so instead she goes home. After a light supper, she tries to watch TV, but nothing is catching her attention. She gets dressed for bed and tries to read, but still nothing is registering, her eyes just keep going over and over the words. She turns out the lights and starts to feel very alone and cold. She tosses for a while and then makes a decision. She does not have to be alone.

Happy drives to Toby’s apartment and waits outside until his lights go off. She feels a little stalker-ish, but also knows that she would rather join him in bed if he is already asleep so she does not have to see the smug look on his face. She wants to be next to him, but does not want to deal with his gloat-y happiness just because she showed up on his doorstep. Once his lights are out, she gets out of her truck and circles the building to make sure his bedroom lights are out, too. She gives him another fifteen minutes to fall asleep and goes back to her truck for her tools. 

Approaching Toby’s door isn't a problem, and unlocking it can be done pretty silently, especially since his lock is a joke. The problem is going to be the light from the hallway which would shine into Toby’s apartment once the door is opened; the sound from the closing door once she is in would also be a slight problem. These would especially be problematic if Toby wasn’t asleep yet. Luckily for her, she knows that Toby isn’t the bat wielding warrior that some men become at night.

Happy looked around the hallway outside of Toby’s apartment and found the light source. The light bulb wouldn’t be hard to unscrew, but she’s have to wait until the door was unlocked, so she could see what she was doing. After picking the locks successfully, Happy takes her jacket off to use to protect her hand while she unscrews the light bulb, enough so it would turn off, not enough to take it all the way out. She then went back to the door and opened it. No sound so far, but now comes the hard part. She stepped quickly inside the apartment and closed the door as quietly as she could, but she still made a small noise as the door hit the jamb. She heard Toby move in his bed, so she stayed frozen until he quieted down again, slowly releasing the door knob. She left her shoes right by the door along with her jacket, phone (which she had already silenced), and her keys. Very quietly she tiptoes her way across the living room and into the bedroom. Some of her nerves start to elevate as she approaches her goal, but she still has to get into the bed. After putting her first leg on the bed she started to feel the empty chasm inside her being filled by the sounds of Toby breathing. Once she shifted all of her weight onto the bed Toby sat up abruptly, searching wildly in the darkness for the source of the movement in his bed.

Happy flattened herself as quickly as possible; so as to not be hit by Toby’s searching arms. She didn’t exactly know why she was hiding from him, but he was swinging his arms around crazily.

“Who’s there?” Toby asks in as deep of a voice as he can manage while terrified.

“Me.” Happy answers in a tiny voice.

“Happy? What the hell? You gave me a heart attack.” Toby collapsed back down into his bed once he realized he wasn’t under attack. “You could kill a guy sneaking into his bed in the middle of the night. Is that why you’re here? You’ve come to kill me?”

“No. I just . . .” Happy is very unhappy at having to explain herself. “I, can I just sleep here tonight? I’m tired. And cold.”

Toby smiles to himself, in spite of his rapid heartbeat from the sudden, unsuspected movement in his bed that he hasn’t yet been able to slow down. He knows that she can’t admit that she likes being with him. “Sure. But I’m going to need you closer, I’ve had a scare tonight and I am afraid to sleep alone.”

Happy smiles in the dark and moves over toward Toby. “I’ll protect you. Scared-y cat.”

Neither one of them was sure which position they wanted to sleep in; Toby was trying to get Happy to put her head on his chest at the same time that Happy was thinking that she could attempt to be the big spoon, little as she is.

Simultaneously they ask, “What are you doing”  
“Why aren’t you moving?”

Toby takes a deep breath and asks, “How would you like to sleep, Happy?”

“I can be the big spoon if you need a protector. But I do realize that I am the natural little spoon,” her voice gets quieter during this sentence and drops off a little at the end. She doesn’t want to have to ask for what she wants.

“Little spoon it is, but can we try the other side tonight? I’m a little stiff from the last couple of days.”

Happy turns again and feels Toby arrange himself behind her. She finally feels comfortable enough and falls right to sleep.

Toby relishes the fact that Happy broke into his house because she wanted to be near him, though he is a little troubled by the fact that she ignored him all day before committing a crime just to be here with him. He is also troubled that Happy felt she had to break in, and he concludes that she couldn’t face him because she can’t admit that she wants to be with him, badly enough to break and enter. Toby finally comes to the realization that this is a move in the right direction, the one he wants which will hopefully lead to them being together, so he snuggles in tighter and falls asleep.

When morning comes, they were still locked in the same position. Toby wakes first today and as he realizes that Happy is still there with him, he breaks into a huge grin. Very carefully, so as not to wake her, he slides his arms out from around Happy and gets out of bed. Checking to make sure that she is still sleeping, Toby grabs some clothes and goes in to take a shower. 

With her source of warmth gone, Happy starts waking up. She feels around for Toby, and then hears the shower start up. She is still very comfortable and warm, but as soon as she remembers where she is, and with whom, her mind starts up again. She knows she should bolt, before he has time to get out of the shower, but it is so warm and comfortable here. She also thinks of staying, maybe feigning sleep until Toby leaves for work. No, she doesn’t think he would leave her there alone. He will probably want to talk about this, whatever "this" is. So, her options are to leave and avoid dealing with Toby for another whole day at work, or to stay and deal with what it “means” that she broke into Toby’s apartment in order to sleep beside him for the third night in a row.

As she lay in his bed, pondering what to do, she hears the water stop. Before she really knows what she wants to do, she is out of bed, across the room, and at the front door, shoving her feet into her shoes. She grabs all of her things and reaches for the door knob just as Toby comes out of the bathroom. He sees that she is gone from the bed and heads to the front door, finding her in the act of reaching for the door knob.

“Where are you going?” he asks as gently as he can. He doesn’t want to scare her, or start a fight.

“Home, to get ready for work.”

Toby smiles and leans against the hallway door frame. “And I didn’t even offer you breakfast. Were you really going to bask in my warmth all night and then just leave, for the second morning in a row? A guy might start to think that you are just using him.”

Happy was facing the door, a little chagrined that she was caught. She slowly turns to face him, and sees him freshly showered and gazing at her with an amused expression on his face.

“Before you ask, I don’t know what this means. I don’t know why I couldn’t fall asleep without you next to me last night. I don’t know, so that’s why I’m leaving.” Happy turns again to leave, but Toby crosses the room in a couple of strides and catches her by the arm before she can get the door open. Facing the door she continues, “your lock sucks, by the way. I can replace it, if you don’t want random people being able to break in and kill you in your sleep.”

“We can address your felony and how to secure my apartment later.” He was holding onto her arm, gently, and looking down at her with loving understanding. “I know that you have low EQ, so you may not understand what you’re feeling. I don’t want to force you to make any declarations of your intentions. But it seems like you like to be near me, especially while you’re sleeping. Which I also like. I do hope that hanky-panky can eventually be featured on the menu at some point, but if you want to sleep beside me, you don’t have to sneak around."

Happy looks up sharply at him at the mention of hanky-panky, but she stares anywhere except at him for the rest of his too kind words. She doesn’t like him holding her here, but she also knows that she could break free if her legs would just move.

“You know I want to be in a relationship with you, Happy. And I will wait until you’re ready, especially if I get to spend all night, every night holding you until then.” He adds this last part a little suggestively, so that she rolls her eyes.

“Walter won’t allow it.”

“What Walter doesn’t know won’t hurt him. He doesn’t get a vote. You do and I do. My vote is yes. I would like to spend time with you. Away from work, sure, but I would also like to continue being friends at work," under his breath he adds, "unlike yesterday’s champion ignore fest." Back to normal volume and with hope growing in his eyes he asks, "Happy, what is your vote?”

“I said ‘I don’t know’.” And with that Happy turns to the door, pulls her arm out of Toby’s hand, and leaves his apartment. She gets to her truck and drives home as quickly as possible. Once there, she slams the door and makes as much noise as possible as she showers and gets ready for work. She definitely wants to continue being friends with Toby at work; they work very well together, even if they yell at each other when situations get tense. She also thinks that she wants to continue sleeping beside Toby, but does she want more? Having meals and spending other time with him doesn’t sound horrible. He would like for them to start a more physical relationship. Well, he was a good kisser and she had been the one to initiate their first kiss. Oh no, she was starting to get all dreamy about him again. She doesn’t know what to do and doesn’t want to make a decision yet, so she texts Walter that she is going to work at her Dad’s shop for a few hours, but to call if he needs her for any big cases or anything. With it determined that she will decide later, she storms out of her house. 

\-----------------  


After Happy leaves his apartment that morning, Toby isn’t hurt but her abrupt evacuation. He knows she will come back to him when she is ready. He finishes getting ready for work and then goes to Kovalsky’s for coffee; he really needs to buy some food. At the restaurant, he thinks about getting Happy some breakfast, but isn’t sure that she would take it as an innocent friend buying another friend breakfast. He takes his order and goes to the garage, checks in with what everyone else is doing and starts to read the new issue of “Psychology Today”. Toby is trying to think of an idea for an article, he’s been published once a year every year since he wrote his first article on Depression when he was twelve. At lunch time, when Happy still hasn’t shown up to work, Toby tricks Sylvester into asking Walter where she is by asking what Sly is working on and pointing out an area where he could use Happy’s expertise.

“Walter, where is Happy?” Sylvester calls up to the loft where Walter is working in his lab.

“She’s working at her Dad’s shop. She said she’d be in after lunch.” Walter calls back down.

Having satisfied his curiosity, Toby is able to go back to work. He goes to his desk to determine a topic for his article. At his computer screen, instead of listing possible topics, his list starts turning into a sonnet describing how he found Happy in the Arctic and how he warmed her back to life. Once that sonnet was complete he started another whose topic was her nighttime breaking and entering to be with him. Just as he was realizing that this one was from her perspective (at least what he hopes is her perspective, not what it actually is, since she is currently evading him again) the door opens and Happy moves quickly and loudly to her work area.

Sylvester pounced on her to get her expertise, just as Toby had suggested. She put her things down and helps him. Happy starts to think that this was a good, normal start to a day at the garage and goes into the kitchen for a drink as soon as Sylvester is satisfied. Toby sees where she is headed and meets her there, to try to get her to interact with him at work again.

“Hey, old buddy, old pal,” Toby greets Happy. “Walter said you were helping your Dad out this morning. Did you get your grease monkey on?”

Happy looks at Toby and decides he is being friendly because they are at work. Since he it didn’t seem like he was going to try to press her for her ‘vote’, she replies, “Um, yeah. He had a difficult case that took me the whole morning, but it should lead to a big payday for him.”

“Good, good. And you were able to help Sly out; you’ve had a productive morning.” Having refilled his coffee and reinstated their friendship, Toby returned to his desk.

A little stunned that Toby stuck to his ‘friendship at work’ promise, Happy is just grateful that he didn’t press her for an answer. Work that afternoon was better than the previous day, since Happy didn’t feel the need to avoid Toby anymore. Being friends at work and something more outside of work might be viable for them. She decides to send him a text to ensure that this night can also be spent together.

H text: would it be weird if I asked you to dinner?  
T text: No. When?  
H text: Tonight? I’ll bring food to your place. I don’t trust you to meet me in a restaurant after last time.  
T text: Are you ever going to let me off the hook for that? Time?  
H text: 7 and no  
T text: I’ll be there, I promise!

Happy glances at Toby across the garage and smiles a little to herself. He looks up her a little too hopefully so she goes straight back to work. Since it wasn’t unusual for Toby to stare at Happy while she worked, he continues until the muse struck him again and he continues composing sonnets.

\-------------- 

At 7:00 exactly, there is a knock on Toby’s door. When he opens it he is pleasantly surprised to find Happy there, with food from his favorite place in China Town. He knows that they made a plan, he just wasn’t sure that she would actually show up. As Happy looked into Toby’s apartment she was surprised to find it much cleaner than when she left it that morning. It seemed that while she was out getting Spicy noodle chicken, Toby was cleaning for her. She couldn’t remember a guy ever doing that for her before.

Since they were both a little surprised, their first “date” was starting out awkwardly, but Toby recovered first and invited Happy in. While they set up and started the meal, Toby suggested that they stick to typical first date type questions for their dinner conversation. He suggested this so that they were able to get to know each other a little better and so that Happy wouldn’t be put on the spot regarding her decision. Though he really wanted to know their two person election results, he was willing to wait and make her feel comfortable so that eventually she would be able to tell him. He hoped. 

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Chrome. Yours?” Happy answered and asked.

“Not fair, ask your own question.” Toby retorted.

“Okay, what’s your middle name?” Happy countered.

“Marcus.” Toby answered, untruthfully, not wanting to scare her off with his real middle name. Merriweather was not first date material, even if it was a family name. “What’s your favorite kind of flower?”

“Seriously, flowers? You got it right when you brought me that wrench bouquet. You already know this stuff.” Happy balked.

Toby smiled, very proud of himself, “I knew you liked that bouquet. All right, not such fluffy first date questions. I know you had a doll house when you were still with your dad. Was there another toy that you wished for when you were little? I was very into Atari until I beat every level in a week. It was fun entertainment for about seven minutes.”

“When I was four, “she started shrinking in on herself a little, “I wanted Sparkling Mike. It was a robot with 125 moving parts. I knew it was too much to hope for, but it was all I cared about.”

“Did you ever get it?”

“No. I was at a group home in the San Fernando Valley. Not many fancy toys for little girls who wanted robots instead of dolls or stuffed animals.” Happy wasn’t sure how this happened, but she was not enjoying this meal as much anymore.

Toby noticed the shift in her mood, and their empty plates, so he decided to shift gears a bit. “It looks like we’re done, would you like to go into the living room while I clean up? I put out some games and movies, in case you wanted after dinner options. Go,” he urged when she started to help gather plates, “you picked up, so I’ll clean up.”

This was something else that no other guy had ever done for Happy. She was hiding a pastry for them to have for desert, so she snuck it out of the bag and took it into the living room. Then she went back into the kitchen to ask if Toby had any wine. He checked and found a bottle, which she took in to set up for a little surprise. She saw the games and movies that he set out for her, but decided that she just wanted to think while she waited for him to finish up in the kitchen.

All he wanted was her vote. Yes, be with him; no, go home alone. She did not want that. So the only choice was yes. She was going to be with Toby. He would start to call her little pet names, like he does with Walter and Sly. Could she handle that? She was pretty good at ignoring him, and he eventually goes away when she does that now. Will he still do that once she is in a relationship with him? And did she even want a boyfriend? This was all very Junior High, and she had hated those three years.

Toby appeared in the doorway, drying the last dish. Happy smiled involuntarily, which in turn made Toby smile. He said, “I’m glad you wanted to stay in. Things are good when it’s just us. Have you decided on a movie or a game?”

“I’ve decided, finish up and come in here,” Happy demanded.

“Yes, ma’am!” Toby disappeared again and Happy continued to smile. How had she gotten herself into a secret relationship with a colleague? Paige had certainly been working her magic with their EQs. Happy wondered how Paige would take the news if it ever got out, and what about the rest of the team. This thought started to make Happy a little nervous, so she set out the pastry and started pouring the wine. 

“You also got dessert? Do we need forks?” Toby asked on his way to join her on the couch.

“No,” Happy said as she pried a piece of the gooey tart off. “Come try this.” She let him pass her to sit on the couch and then she fed him the first bite she pulled off. “This is my favorite.”

“Very nice, and you’re going to feed it to me?” Toby asked incredulously as she put a bite into her own mouth. He was very pleased by the new side Happy was showing him tonight. The next bite went into his mouth and then he couldn’t stand it anymore, so he leaned toward her for a kiss, before she could go back to the tart.

“What are you doing?” she asked him, not for the first time. She was pulling away from him, just a little.

“You’ve been letting me in. I just wanted to kiss you while I’m feeling so close to you. We’re not in bed and this isn’t hanky-panky. It’s an expression of my emotions.” Not seeing what he wanted to in her face, Toby started to move away from her. “ But I feel the moment has passed.” He started to reach for a wine glass but Happy put her non-gooey hand on his face and guided it to hers. Still thinking, always thinking, she wondered if he could tell that this was her answer. As the kiss deepened, she figured he might not care.


End file.
